lap up
Britishverb
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to eat or drink
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to relish or delight in
he laps up old horror films
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to believe or accept eagerly and uncritically
he laps up tall stories
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Take in or receive very eagerly, as in She loves to travel—she just laps it up, or The agency is lapping up whatever information their spies send in. This expression alludes to an animal drinking greedily. [Late 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s the perfect place for Allen to lap up the last of the warm weather when he returns to Buffalo for preseason training camp, which kicks off on July 24.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 4, 2026
Pushback on social media suggests some IJGBs are all front - they may lap up the returning hero adulation but in fact lack financial clout.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2025
We lap up what algorithms feed us and spend so much time connecting with loved ones only through our screens.
From Salon • Jan. 20, 2025
Ocean water is able to seep beneath ice shelves and lap up against the edge of the glacier at the grounding line, melting the ice from the bottom up.
From Scientific American • Feb. 16, 2023
The dog rushed to lap up the milk.
From "Kira-Kira" by Cynthia Kadohata
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.